Superior School District Ends Mask Mandate For 4K-6th Grade Classrooms

SUPERIOR, Wis. — Masks are no longer required in the Superior school district.

The mandate, which was only in place for students in 4k through sixth grade and the staff and visitors who were around them, was lifted on Monday when the holiday break ended.

The superintendent, Amy Starzecki, said that there has been a decline in cases within the school through December, prompting the school district to make the change.

She adds that the policy was put in place back in August when students ages 5 through 11 could not get vaccinated against COVID yet, but after they became eligible for the shots in early November, they have had enough time to do so.

However, some children in 4K classes may be four-years-old and not able to get vaccinated yet.

“We do know that the groups of people who have higher vaccination rates are seeing far less transmission rates in our schools, so that’s an important strategy that our students and our staff are all vaccinated,” Starzecki said.

She added that originally, the district’s COVID response plan was based on the rate of the virus spreading throughout Superior, but then the administration realized that the rates were much different on their eight campuses.

Starzecki said that the school district will keep monitoring the fluctuations in case numbers and adjust the mask policy again if needed.

In total, the district has eight strategies it uses to try to keep transmission rates low.

“I think we’ve done a good job with our ventilation systems, we do a good job in teaching kids how to wash their hands and how we clean our surfaces on a regular basis, I mean all of those efforts have stepped up,” she said. “We still have many students and staff who choose to wear masks as well, as well as sanitizing and taking all those other precautions.”

The only place where the mask mandate still stands is on school buses because of the federal mask policy for public transportation.